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Bell: Releasing Freeman is the closure Buccaneers need

TAMPA -- Merely benching malcontent quarterback Josh Freeman or keeping him off the sideline during games is not enough at this point. Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano, opting to move on with raw rookie

TAMPA -- Merely benching malcontent quarterback Josh Freeman or keeping him off the sideline during games is not enough at this point. Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano, opting to move on with rookie quarterback Mike Glennon, needs to find closure. And fast.

The relationship between Freeman and the winless Bucs reached a new low Monday night, when a sketchy ESPN report stated that Freeman was in the NFL drug program for taking an unspecified banned drug without a prescription. That led Freeman to respond in a statement, alleging that someone in the Bucs organization was trying to smear him by leaking the information.

Freeman said he entered the program more than a year and a half ago, when he took Ritalin for his ADHD rather than Adderall, for which he had a prescription. He called it a "one-time mistake," and said he now has permission to take Adderall. Freeman said he agreed to undergo testing at the Bucs' complex, and that leads him to believe someone there betrayed him amid all of the recent drama.

"Unfortunately, it appears that some people who may have noticed the testing at my workplace have made hurtful and incorrect assumptions and chosen to disseminate inaccurate and very disturbing information," he said. Freeman added that he has passed all 46 NFL drug tests he has taken.

All this came after Freeman's agent said Schiano was not truthful when he said the benched quarterback's presence in a suite during Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals was a mutual decision. The agent called it "a lie. Obviously."

Schiano's Monday news conference, with the team headed into a bye week, was dominated by questions about Freeman. Though no one believes him, Schiano said it's possible Freeman can dress again as the No. 2 quarterback, that such decisions will be made on a weekly basis.

The logical question was raised: Isn't it best to trade him? Schiano deferred to general manager Mark Dominik and added, "As long as he's a Buccaneer, then he will be a member of this team and do the things we do."

It's time to stop that charade. Schiano made it clear with the switch that he doesn't want Freeman, and there's no turning back now.

Freeman was the starting quarterback for the first three games — one of which would have been won without a boneheaded penalty by linebacker Lavonte David and another that might have been won if Rian Lindell hadn't missed a 47-yard field goal attempt.

There are conflicting versions of how the suite controversy went down after Freeman discussed the situation during a Saturday meeting with quarterbacks coach John McNulty and a follow-up session Sunday with Schiano.

While Schiano has said Freeman didn't want to be a distraction on the sideline, a person familiar with Freeman's thinking told USA TODAY Sports that he would have preferred to maintain contact with teammates. The person requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly for Freeman.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Anquan Boldin (81) avoids a tackle by St. Louis Rams cornerback Cortland Finnegan (31) and avoids stepping out of bounds on the way to a 20 yard touchdown reception during the first half at the Edward Jones Dome.
Scott Rovak, USA TODAY Sports

In any event, Freeman situation has become a mess. He missed the team photo session and a meeting on the day that teammates voted to strip him of his captaincy. After being benched last week, he violated team policy, granted an off-site interview to ESPN and stated his desire to move on.

That Freeman, who passed for 4,065 yards and 27 touchdowns in 2012, seeks a trade after being benched for an unproven rookie seems natural. Dominik, who was unavailable to comment Monday, told USA TODAY Sports last week that the benching was based on poor performance and the team would seek a trade.

But it will be difficult to trade a player in the final year of his contract who would count approximately $6.5 million against another team's salary cap — unless the Bucs pick up part of the cap hit or Freeman agrees to a sign-and-trade type of deal. Traded or not, Freeman could decide to test the market in 2014.

"I'm not going to be naive," Schiano said. "There are a lot of factors involved. This is not high school football. This is professional football, and there's salaries and there's contracts involved."

Before the Oct. 29 trade deadline arrives, will Jake Locker's hip injury make the Tennessee Titans inquire? Will a contender want a short-term insurance policy at quarterback?

There's no chance this will play out as it did for the San Francisco 49ers last season, when Alex Smith said all the right things after being benched for Colin Kaepernick. Given all the factors and the animosity, the Bucs should release Freeman and move on — a new twist on the "bye" week.